BILL SIMS JR. & MARK LAVOIE "American Blues Roots Duo" Source: American Blues Blog Date: 07/2009 Writer: J. Blake

Bill Sims, Jr. (New York City) & Mark LaVoie (Bristol, Vermont) are two blues veterans that have collectively played with the likes of Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Freddy King and Sonny Terry. They have been making music together for the past 15 years, and evidence of their long lasting collaboration can be heard on Delta Groove Music’s release of AMERICAN BLUES ROOTS DUO. Sims on guitar and LaVoie on harmonica (both sharing vocal duties) bring the listener “way down the alley” with a mellow, soothing and authentic acoustic blues sound that is bound to make any “roots music” fan happy. Among the CD’s 13 tracks, listeners will find covers of such notable blues standards as Telephone Blues (a.k.a. Long Distance Call), Hesitation Blues, Big Leg Woman and Goin’ Down to Louisiana.

With the entire CD containing nothing but two men, an acoustic guitar, a harmonica and a relaxed feel/tempo, the casual blues fan as well as some electric blues enthusiasts may find the music and sound of this album slightly redundant over the entirety of its 13 tracks, but I have no doubt that acoustic blues and folk fanatics will revel in the soulful vocals and undeniable musicianship that Sims and LaVoie bring to their tasteful studio effort. On a technical level, the sound quality of AMERICAN BLUES ROOTS DUO is refreshingly professional. The recording is crisp, with a certain depth that most CDs from fairly unknown blues artists unfortunately lack.

For deep blues lovers and (especially) acoustic folk/blues fans, I strongly recommend AMERICAN BLUES ROOTS DUO by Bill Sims, Jr. & Mark LaVoie.